Traitor [Stour]

[Wicked]

As far as Szayel was concerned, Adan and Stour could die. So long as their deaths were slow and painful. He had, briefly, mentioned to Xuan that alive was better. Alive meant available for live testing. Dead, however, meant unable to make further nuisance.

He had decided to kill Adan. Stour Xuan would have preferred to bring back, if he thought he could do it. But as far as Xuan knew, Stour was at least at his level. Unless Szayel himself came, Stour would have to die as well.

It was a shame, really, Xuan had even bore a grudging respect for Stour. He now saw that this was misguided.

When Xuan stepped through the Garganta, he was glad to notice that Adan was nearby. Somewhere in the woods, the one-handed freak was strolling around - like he had any right to - without a care in the world. Szayel's fraccion sonidoed towards the traitor, unrolling his whip as he moved.

Adan had been walking aimlessly, so it seemed, and Xuan felt no remorse when he flung his whip against Adan's back. It dug into his flesh and tore the clothes - the human clothes - that he now wore. And Xuan sneered. "You two traitors."

[Stour]

Stour trudged along the streets, enjoying his perpetual invisibility to those around him. It wasn't a gift he enjoyed much in the desert. But here? Here, nobody bothered him. Nothing bothered him.

He could wander these forests and look at the trees and odd insects, especially the spiders, forever. The spiders here were so similar to himself, that he would often hold them, to study them as they crawled along his arms. But he was picking something up he didn't want to pick up. He could feel it, every inch of his body tingling. He knew what he was sensing. And he had a choice. A choice between what was bound to become violence, and complacency.

But he knew straight away that he had made that choice long before now. Subtle with his speed, he jumped across the trees, silently gliding down to a scene he completely expected. Xuan was tearing a strip across Adan's back.

"Long time no see, kids," Stour said, with a smirk, walking towards Adan. He didn't want it to be obvious, but he would stand between the two if he had to. "Glad to see we're working on our introductions, Xuan. Your skills never cease to amaze."

With a wave of his hand, he stopped, forming a triangle shape with their positions. "So what is this, Xuan? Decided to hunt Adan down? Or were you just lucky?" Stour smirked, "Or unlucky, as it would seem. I suppose we can accept that we never truly liked eachother. But I didn't think you'd sink so low."

Stour tilted his head towards Xuan, as if waiting for a verbal response. At the same time, he felt his muscles tense slightly. He pulled some reiatsu in, just a sharp surge, to make his point. He was confident Xuan was on his level, strength wise. But he, as always, had confidence that he could find a way out. His eyes never focused on Xuan, since they almost never did focus. He took in everything he could, and waited.

[Wicked]

Adan twisted around, wincing only briefly at the pain. It stung, and the blood was irritating, but he would live. He drew his sword as Stour approached. "Long time no see, kids."

"Hiya Stourpuss," Adan called. "It's been weeks."

Xuan snapped his whip back to his side and sneered at the two. Stour taunted Xuan as he adjusted his position, and then let his reiatsu surge. Adan did the same, hoping to enforce the point. He went for a walk in the woods to relax, not to be attacked by a psychopath.

"Really, Stour? You're going to lecture me about 'sinking so low?' You live amongst human filth," Xuan hissed winding up his arm and preparing for another strike, "And you're little more than petty theives."

He was, of course, reffering to Kaki. Alexei had been a distraction, for both Xuan and Szayel, but it didn't change the desire to finish with the girl. If nothing else, Xuan hated to think that she had escaped. He could have lived with her dying on the operating table, or even in her cage. But free was something else entirely.

"Of course, if you were to help me find that girl, Szayel-sama might not mind me letting you go," Xuan suggested, knowing he would be turned down. Adan would probably be the loudest about it. He always was.

[Stour]

"Adan, good to see you're well, and lame as ever," Stour said with a nod, not turning from Xuan. "Can't say the same for you, of course."

He heard what Xuan said, and smiled. "Wouldn't a petty thief have stolen something of no worth? We seem to have hurt you more than that. Seems we're quite successful thieves."

He nearly laughed when Xuan mentioned that he might change his mind, to help them recover lost 'property'. "Really?" He asked, his smirk fading. "Perhaps then, I help you find her. Clearly your incompetence is not your fault, you weren't born for tracking."

Stour winked at Xuan as he returned to his normal stance, his arms crossing behind his back. He glanced to Adan. "I mean, it's not like we could find her any easier, huh?"

He laughed, turning his gaze sharply back to Xuan mid-sentence. "Though, I must admit, I'm in shock you've found either of us. Your incompetence glares so brightly in moments like these. I have nothing but to assume it was an accident. So was it?"

Stour grinned widely again, trying to egg Xuan into trying something. Stour obviously being the type to return fire before firing the first shot.

[Wicked]

"Perhaps then, I help you find her," Stour said, a smile fading from his face.

Adan quickly protested, turning to Stour. "You wouldn't."

"Clearly your incompetence is not your fault, you weren't born for tracking."

Xuan snarled. He was certain Szayel had mentioned Stour being unusually perceptive, but he hadn't read into it or asked for more information. He wondered if it would be a factor in the fight. Adan, Xuan surmised, could be outsmarted or used as a living shield.

Stour would take more work.

"I mean, it's not like we could find her any easier, huh?"

"Why would she hide from people she believes saved her?" Xuan reasoned. "People she foolishly trusts."

Adan stared at Xuan. The last time they had met, Xuan had attacked him. Adan had caught him off guard the last time, but he couldn't use those same tricks again. Stour was with him, though, and that would make any fighting easier.

Xuan didn't attack. He had just a little more restraint. "Incompetence, Stour? You of all people would know about that. How many machines exploded in Szayel-sama's face?" He hoped that he would hit a nerve, but just in case, he looked to Adan. "Or you, Adan...you would know. You had a chance to kill me and you wasted it."

Adan wished he had taken it. But it was too late.

[Stour]

"Truly, I've not sought her out, perhaps that's why she wouldn't hide from me, Xuan. Because I'm not so foolish as to search. As to think I could find, even," Stour said, his eyebrows raising. Stour knew Xuan was smart enough to manage being unpredictable, and he had hoped he could put him off by insulting him, get him to lash out directly at Stour. He wouldn't have stood a chance, then. But now, Stour wasn't fully ready. He was constantly processing plausibilities of the situation.

Stour smiled when Xuan brought up his machines. "You assume I ever wanted them to work, Xuan. Are you so sure?" Of course, Stour HAD wanted them to work. They just... didn't. Looking back, he was glad. Earning more of Szayel's favor would have lead him to a world in which he likely never rebelled.

"And as for Adan not killing you, perhaps he thought that you, like us, would outgrow this childish scheme. I won't make that mistake, rest assured, Xuan. If it comes to that point, I would sooner destroy myself than let you walk away."

[Wicked]

"Truly, I've not sought her out, perhaps that's why she wouldn't hide from me, Xuan. Because I'm not so foolish as to search," Stour said with perked brows. Xuan narrowed his eyes. No, Stour had no real reason to search for her. But Xuan did. And the girl wasn't just going to pop out of hiding and into his clutches.

"You assume I ever wanted them to work, Xuan, are you so sure?"

"As I remember, you were enthusiastic about watching her squirm until, what was it, she said thank you?" Xuan recalled. "Face it, Stour, you and I are not so different. Stop pretending that your feelings somehow make you better."

Adan shook with rage. It would be so easy to just shoot a cero at Xuan, but that would leave Adan open and for attack. At least, it would if he was too slow. He had no real way of communicating with Stour - no way that Xuan wouldn't recognize immediately.

"Na, I'd have thought Szayel would kill you fer screwing up," he chriped, finding the will to smile warmly. "Guess he let ya off easy though."

[Stour]

"We learn from our awful pasts," Stour shrugged. "Well... Some of us do."

He gestured towards Adan as he winked at Xuan. "If we weren't so different, would I be fighting against every urge in my body to destroy you? If I was still who I was, I would have torn this forest down just to make you bleed. But I see how frivolous that is now."

Stour smirked when Adan commented about Szayel's punishment for Xuan. "Oh, I'm sure it was terrible, Adan. Just imagine how awful it will be if we get away again. Wouldn't that just be awful for Xuan here?"

Stour grinned more widely than ever, pointing a finger at Xuan. "Your hopes and dreams are based entirely on someone else's desires," Stour said, the grin fading, his tone shifting towards solemnity. "Why does your dream of someone else's happiness override ours?" Stour glared as he finished his statement, his hand reflexively twitching. He was resisting his natural urges to release and attack Xuan at Stour's peak, when Xuan was least expecting it. It was never about being better than someone else. It was about being smarter. Xuan was smart enough to be a challenge, though.

[Wicked]

"Happiness? You think happiness has anything to do with it?" Xuan laughed. "That's the kind of childish drivel I'd expect from you," he indicated Adan.

He stopped smiling quickly, and his face went straight. He wasn't angry, wasn't happy, wasn't feeling anything at all. Hate. He felt hate. But nothing that affected him. Sternly, he said,"Hopes, dreams, they don't matter. They're trivial at best. All that matters is my next work."

He wanted desperately to attack them. Which one, he could not say. Stour was, surprisingly, the more annoying one this time. But he still held a grudge against Adan. It was a difficult decision.

And Adan made it for him.

His arm rose, and a cero fired out of Adan's missing arm. Xuan dodged, staying just out of sight behind the trees. Adan could sense him, or could if he wasn't so damn furious.

"She's not one of your damn science projects!" Adan snapped. He waved his sword as he looked around. He couldn't see Xuan anywhere. He wasn't behind them, unless he was completely suppressing his reiatsu. "No one is!"

[Stour]

"Now, now, Xuan. Being a mindless drone does get old, take it from me. I would know," Stour smirked, "Hopes and dreams are important, they are a part of what makes us different. Hopes, dreams and thoughts. They set us apart from the sad little monsters that only want to eat."

As Stour finished speaking he was interrupted by a flash of light flying towards Xuan. Stour say Xuan dodge, and jump into the trees. He lost him, there. He hadn't been expecting the attack. He was too focused on Xuan. He was rusty.

"Damn it, Adan!" Stour said, without turning from the trees, his eyes darting around. "Now I can't see him. He has the advantage." Stour felt for his presence, but knew Xuan could hide it, plus he was only picking up remnants of Adan's cero, and the flash had been so unexpected he had sunspots in his eyes, blinking them away when he dared to blink, he tried hard to focus on Xuan, but he was coming up empty.

He was flustered, and a bit dazed. "I can hardly see. A little warning next time, Adan?" Stour felt like a flash-bang grenade had gone off in his face. It may as well have, with all the focus he had on Xuan being instantly shifted to an explosion. He shook his head, the spots leaving him somewhat blind in random places. He knew they would fade fast, just hoped that Xuan didn't decide to rush an attack.